Silver cross pattée, with an attached ribbon with alternating narrow stripes, 7 white and 6 blue, first stripe white. The front of the cross has an embossed central circle bordered with barbed wire. In the center of the circle is an inverted red enamel triangle enclosing a black enamel upper case B. The back has black enamel in the central circle with the dates etched in silver in the center. A suspension ring is attached at the top to a jump ring through which the ribbon is threaded.
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The medal was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Guy Francois, the son of Roger Francois.
Roger Leon Francois was born on July 23, 1914, in Ledeberg, Belgium. He served in the Belgian Army throughout the 1930s. He was given leave from the Congo to marry Johanna F. on March 12, 1936. In May 1940, Germany invaded and occupied Belgium. Roger became a member of OMBR [Organisation Militaire Belge de Résistance], the Belgian Military Resistance Organization. He participated in sabotage actions and actively assisted Jews to go into hiding to avoid deportation by the German authorities. He was arrested in Brussels by the Germans in 1942, and deported to Flossenbürg, than Buchenwald concentration camp. His prisoner number was 60481. He may have been released on June 17, 1944, due to ill health pursuant to a prisoner release agreement negotiated by the Dutch. Buchenwald was liberated by American troops in April 1945, not long before the war ended in May. Roger was honored with multiple awards and medals for his wartime service by the Belgian government. Roger resumed his service in the Belgian Army. He worked as a photographer for the Belgian embassy, as a cryptographer for NATO, and was stationed in the Belgian Embassy in Washington DC for three years. In 1960, he retired from the military after twenty years. He, his wife, and their four children, two boys and two girls, remained in the US. Roger was a dedicated employee of the Piedmont School of the Wilson Boulevard Christian Church. Roger, age 79, died in 1993.
overall: Height: 4.500 inches (11.43 cm) | Width: 1.500 inches (3.81 cm)
Cross of the Political Prisoner of War, 1940-1945 medal with ribbon, with two stars, awarded to Roger Francois by the government of Belgium for his service to his country during World War II. The cross pattée medal had an embossed inverted red triangle with a B to represent the prison badge that identified them as Belgian political prisoners and a blue and white striped ribbon representing prison uniforms. During the German occupation of Belgium, May 1940-September 1944, the German military governed alongside the Belgian civil service. The Germans sought to deport all Jews to concentration camps; the Belgian civil service did not cooperate. By 1942, there was a significant resistance movement. Francois actively assisted Jews in avoiding these round-ups and in finding places to live in hiding. He was captured and interned at Buchenwald and Flossenbürg concentration camps in Germany, and was not liberated until April 1945. Francois was honored with multiple awards for his war time service.
Croix du Prisonnier Politique de la Guerre 1940-1945 medal with ribbon, 2 stars, awarded to a Belgian resistance fighter